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Delivering a Seamless Hybrid Multi-Hub Event

Industry

Consumer Goods

Event Format

Multi-city hybrid in seven hubs across Australia and New Zealand

Attendees

600 in-person, 100 virtually

The Situation

The client needed to conduct their most critical employee meeting across the region to make sure their dispersed team understood their role in achieving the company’s growth goals. What would normally have been one in-person event, was not possible due to the various restrictions in travel and maximum capacities. The company wanted to gather as many employees as possible in person and give team members the option to participate virtually. This was their first in-person event since COVID-19, putting them under more pressure to ensure a positive outcome.

Solution

We designed a hybrid multi-hub event with six states in Australia, one hub in New Zealand, and a virtual event platform – all connected through technology. With 600+ delegates attending in person, health and safety considerations were paramount. We worked closely with supplier partners and hotels in each location to make sure that every element throughout the event was assessed for COVID-19 safety. To drive connections between the in-person and virtual audience whilst still maintaining social distancing, the team developed an event app for push notifications, contactless check-in, live polling and Q&A to drive engagement.

Outcome

In addition to the client’s overwhelmingly positive feedback, the post-event survey indicated that 98.9% of employees felt highly informed after the meeting and understood how they would contribute to the growth strategy. Also impressive was the engagement measured through the event app, with nearly 10,000 actions across all attendees including comments, likes, posts, photos, etc.

In May 2021, American Express GBT Meetings & Events supported a multinational company in the utilities sector with a complex hybrid event, designed to deliver their annual growth strategy to an internal audience of more than 700 in the Asia-Pacific region. The meeting was critical to ensure employees understood the company’s strategy and what their roles would be in achieving the expected growth goals.

It would normally have been entirely in-person, but due to travel restrictions and venue capacity limits that was not possible. The American Express GBT Meetings & Events team conducted an ideation session to understand the objectives, define the scope, discuss expected outcomes and determine metrics to measure success. Approximately 600 people attended in-person and 100 attended virtually, in seven different locations.

Encouraging audience participation and interaction between the hubs was a priority, so the meeting program was designed to build employee interactions, keep attendees engaged with the company’s content, and create a safe environment for those attending in-person, while creating a consistent experience for both audience types.

To drive connections between in-person and virtual audiences while maintaining social distancing, the team developed an event app. The app was used for push notifications to create excitement prior to the event, contactless check-in for safety, and live polling and Q&As to drive engagement. Attendees could also connect with each other directly via the app, increasing interaction between the multiple different audiences. To add in another layer of engagement, live streaming took place from each hub, allowing audiences to see their colleagues from other hub locations, with speakers streaming live from three of the hubs.

For those attending in-person, a stand-up cocktail, dining and networking experiences in the different locations provided a social element, to help foster relationships. To help foster relationships for those attending in-person, stand-up cocktail, dining and networking experiences were provided in the different locations to enable social engagement.

Following the post-event survey, feedback indicated that 98.9% of employees felt highly informed after the meeting and understood how they would contribute to the growth strategy. Attendee engagement, which was measured through the event app, was impressive, with nearly 10,000 actions including comments, likes, posts, photos, etc. The onsite team said the energy at the venues was exceptional, as colleagues were reunited with each other after such a long time apart. All elements of the event ran seamlessly, and with the team’s tech know-how, the AV and technology elements were managed to the highest standard.

American Express GBT Meetings & Events worked together with the client to make this meeting possible despite the health and safety restrictions in place, providing knowledge of the virtual event platforms and technology solutions available to achieve objectives.

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